1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to load control systems for controlling electrical loads and more particularly to a procedure for restoring a remotely-located control device of a radio frequency (RF) lighting control system to a known state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Control systems for controlling electrical loads, such as lights, motorized window treatments, and fans, are known. Such control systems often use radio frequency (RF) transmission to provide wireless communication between the control devices of the system. Examples of RF lighting control systems are disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,905,442, issued on May 18, 1999, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING AND DETERMINING THE STATUS OF ELECTRICAL DEVICES FROM REMOTE LOCATIONS, and commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,803,728, issued Oct. 12, 2004, entitled SYSTEM FOR CONTROL OF DEVICES. The entire disclosures of both patents are hereby incorporated by reference.
The RF lighting control system of the '442 patent includes wall-mounted load control devices, table-top and wall-mounted master controls, and signal repeaters. The control devices of the RF lighting control system include RF antennas adapted to transmit and receive the RF signals that provide for communication between the control devices of the lighting control system. The control devices all transmit and receive the RF signals on the same frequency. Each of the load control devices includes a user interface and an integral dimmer circuit for controlling the intensity of an attached lighting load. The user interface has a pushbutton actuator for providing on/off control of the attached lighting load and a raise/lower actuator for adjusting the intensity of the attached lighting load. The table-top and wall-mounted master controls have a plurality of buttons and are operable to transmit RF signals to the load control devices to control the intensities of the lighting loads.
Often, it is desirable to return one of the control devices of the lighting control system to a default factory setting, i.e., an “out-of-box” setting. Specifically, the selected control device may be programmed to communicate on a second channel that is different than the selected channel that the other devices of the lighting control system are using. Since the second channel is unknown to the control devices of the lighting control system, the selected control device is returned to the “out-of-box” setting before being assigned to communicate with the selected channel.
Prior art control devices have provided an “out-of-box” procedure for resetting the control device to the default factory setting, for example, in response to a predetermined sequential actuation of one or more of the buttons of the control devices. The “out-of-box” procedure requires that the control device be located in a reasonably accessible fashion to provide for physical contact between a user and an actuator of the control device to identify each control device that needs to be returned to the factory settings.
However, load control devices, such as electronic dimming ballasts, motorized window treatments, or remote dimmer modules, may be mounted in remote locations such that physical contact with the load control device during the “out-of-box” procedure is rendered impractical. Further, since the control device is communicating on a channel may be unknown to the other control devices, the control devices may not be able to communicate with the control device. Therefore, there is a need for a method of returning a remotely-located control device to a default factory setting. Specifically, there is a need for a method of establishing communication with a remotely mounted control device that may be communicating on an unknown channel in order to return a remotely-located control device to a default factory setting.